Dignitaries and members of the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. gathered the OPG Visitors Centre in Cornwall on Wednesday afternoon for the unveiling of four paintings to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the seaway’s opening.

The series of paintings are by Quebec City-based artist Yvon Lemieux, who was commissioned to create them for the anniversary after a chance meeting with the Seaway’s CEO, Terence Bowles.

“I was at a function in Quebec City where he and seven other artists were doing a project where they painted the length of the St. Lawrence River. But they hadn’t included the seaway,” recalled Bowles. “I got it into my mind that it would be great if they could do something with the Seaway. We were also getting into the 60th anniversary at the time, and it worked out really well.

“They’re beautiful paintings.”

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The four paintings depict scenes from across the entire length of the seaway: the St. Lambert lock, the Victoria Bridge, a nature scene from between Cornwall and Beauharnois, Que., and the Welland Canal locks near Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.

St. Lawrence Seaway paintings by Yvon Lemieux

A painting of a scene on the St. Lawrence Seaway by Yvon Lemieux.
Alan S. Hale/Cornwall Standard-Freeholder/Postmedia Network/jpg, CO

A painting of a scene on the St. Lawrence Seaway by Yvon Lemieux.
Alan S. Hale/Cornwall Standard-Freeholder/Postmedia Network/jpg, CO

A painting of a scene on the St. Lawrence Seaway by Yvon Lemieux.
Alan S. Hale/Cornwall Standard-Freeholder/Postmedia Network/jpg, CO

A painting of a scene on the St. Lawrence Seaway by Yvon Lemieux.
Alan S. Hale/Cornwall Standard-Freeholder/Postmedia NetworkAlan S. Hale/Alan S. Hale/Standard-Freeholder

Lemieux unveiled the paintings himself at the gathering, commenting on some of the details in the images such as the inclusion of birds and even the hands-free mooring system the seaway administration is particularly proud of.

The artworks will be hung inside the St. Lawrence Seaway’s main headquarters located on Pitt Street in Cornwall, but Bowles said they might decide to shuffle some of them around to other offices as well.

“They may travel a bit,” he said.

In gratitude, the artist was presented with a special medallion created by the Royal Canadian Mint to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the seaway’s creation. Two other medallions were given to the sons of Lionel Chevrier, who was the first president of the St. Lawrence Seaway Authority after stepping down from his transport minister post in Mackenzie King’s cabinet.